A week today and there will just be a few hours to go before the polls close in this year’s local elections. The votes will in some places be counted on the night and in other places will be counted on the Friday. In normal times if there was a terrible outcome for one of the main parties then that could be a big news story on the Saturday and possibly the serious Sundays. But that is not going to…
LAB heads to be top party there once again By far the biggest loser when the SNP started to rise in the aftermath of the 2014 Indy referendum was Scottish Labour. This had been the traditional main party north of the border and indeed at the 2005 and 2010 elections came out with 41 of the 59 Westminster seats. That all was swept away in the aftermath of the referendum and it is only now that we have started to…
As I am sure most who follow this site will know that in the local elections a week on Thursday voters are going to be required to provide a form of photo ID like a passport or a driving license. The problem was always going to be that there would be a significant proportion of the electorate who do not have the relevant documentation and a special scheme was set up to deal with this. As can be seen from…
This is a link to the above report.
The big news in US politics today is that aging Joe Biden is to seek a second term and the response on the WH2024 nomination betting is very clear – he’s being rated as an 82% chance. As to the race itself, he is being traded as a 40% chance. He is by far and away the oldest occupant of the White House and clearly his age does raise questions about his ability to serve the full four years. This…
The oldies rate healthcare top Yesterday I took a very big decision and booked an appointment with a private surgeon for my spine. This is going to cost me but I had a procedure on the NHS two months ago which does not seem to have done the trick and now I can barely walk. My plight is not unusual. I am sure that many PBers can relate stories of how difficult it is to see their GP and many…
This from GE1992 is really quite extraordinary with the winner on just 26% of the vote and the Tories in fourth place only 3.4% behind. The rise of the SNP at GE2015 has rather obscured what happens under first past the post when in some seats four parties have a chance of taking the seat. My guess is that with the drop in fortunes for the SNP that we might see results similar again though not necessarily this close. Mike…
Given the current state of UK politics, it comes as something of a shock to recall that a little over two years ago one of the leading betting markets was on which month LAB would get at least one pollster recording a lead. Now even though the Tories have made quite a big recovery from last October they still seem a fair way behind in the polls though there is real hope given the way Sunak is getting relatively good…